Addressing Cumulative Effects Through Strategic Environmental Assessment: A Case Study of Small Hydro Development in Newfoundland, Canada

Abstract

Environmental assessment (EA) is widely used as a means of incorporating environmental considerations into decision-making, primarily at the project level. The scope of EA has been expanded considerably in recent years to include earlier stages of the decision-making process, namely, policies, plans and programmes. Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) facilitates a planning approach to addressing the overall, cumulative effects of the projects that occur as a result of these decisions. This paper demonstrates the potential benefits of SEA in the assessment and management of cumulative effects, using a case study of recent hydroelectric development planning in Newfoundland, Canada. It goes on to illustrate how SEA could be used to address potential cumulative effects at the various stages of such a decision-making process. Through the case study, the paper also explores a number of issues in the implementation of such a planning approach.

New Process, Same Doubts: Participants’ Perceptions of Strategic Environmental Assessment in Western Newfoundland

“…The responses of most participants recognised key elements of SEA and they concluded for themselves that the Western NL SEA was not strategic. In coming to this conclusion they focused in on the limited scope of the assessment and the lack of consideration of cumulative effects, two issues the literature establishes as central to SEA (Bonnell and Storey, 2000;Polido and Ramos, 2015). The literature also reveals other researchers (e.g.…”

Economic and socio-economic assessment methods for ocean renewable energy: Public and private perspectives

“…Most recently, the Oregon Wave Energy Trust has funded the development of a Cumulative Effects Analysis Framework centred on a multi-criteria decision making tool for evaluating the potential impacts of various ocean renewable energy technologies [190]. This tool is designed to offer decision makers, stakeholders and the public more information on the potential impacts associated with various ocean energy development scenarios.…”

“…Equally it could be argued that cumulative impacts may not be directly associated with the impacts of any individual development project and consequently many authors have argued that cumulative effects are best assessed in a more regional and strategic context, through the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process (e.g. [190][191][192]. However Gunn and Noble [180] highlight the potential difficulties associated with inclusion of cumulative impacts in an SEA framework.…”

Advancing Regional Strategic Environmental Assessment in Canada's Western Arctic: Implementation Opportunities and Challenges

“…Amongst its defining features are its regional scope, strategic nature, and consideration of cumulative effects (Noble and Harriman, 2009). Its methodological approach is founded on the integration of existing knowledge, experience, and theory drawn from strategic (Vicente and Partidário, 2006;Noble and Storey, 2001;Partidário, 2000), cumulative (Noble, 2008;Dubé, 2003;Bonnell and Storey, 2000) and regional EA (Noble and Harriman, 2008). As a framework for regional application, it is intended to be context sensitive and "tailor-made to the kind of decisions at stake and the nature of the decision-making processes in place" (Partidário and Clark, 2000).…”